Who doesn’t love sleep? I can tell you I sure do, so I am all for any device that offers to assist me in making the most of something I love. I found that in a device called the SLEEPTRACKER Pro, which looks like an oversized watch, but it promises the user the ability to keep track of their sleep patterns and to also awake the wearer at the most optimum time when they are “almost awake,” so they do not wake up groggy. Sure, caffeine may be a simple fix for most people who have groggy mornings, but I would prefer to wake up refreshed and not with a need for two shots of espresso at Starbucks.

After receiving the SLEEPTRACKER Pro, I was pretty surprised by its size. I’m not one to wear watches, let alone a really large watch, so I was concerned that wearing the watch while I slept would be uncomfortable. After the first few minutes of going to bed, I forgot I had it on. While in bed, I prepared to set the watch to monitor my sleep, and to wake me up at the first “almost awake” moment within a 30 minute window of when I had no choice but to get up. When it comes to waking up, the SLEEPTRACKER Pro allows the user to set up a window of up to 90 minutes from the time you set your alarm for. During the window you set, the watch looks for an “almost awake” moment and sets off the alarm. If there is no “almost awake” moment within your set window, then the watch wakes you up at the time you set the alarm for.

The first night I set the alarm for a window of 30 minutes. Sure enough, the watch woke me up about 27 minutes earlier than what I set my alarm for. I thought if I woke up earlier, then I’d wake up more tired, but as promised I felt like I was ready to go for the day with no grogginess. In addition to waking me up without being groggy, I also found how the SLEEPTRACKER Pro woke me up to be an advantage as well. For an alarm, you have three choices: you can set it to vibrate, chime, or do both. I set it to do both the first night, since I wasn’t sure if vibrating alone was going to wake me up.

After the first night, I just set it to vibrate, and it was awesome not having to wake up to an obnoxious audible alarm from my alarm clock. The additional bonus was that normally before I leave in the morning I have to reset the alarm clock for my spouse. I don’t have to do that any more, since I wear my own personal alarm clock on my wrist. The spouse also loved the vibrate feature, because it meant she wasn’t awaken by the alarm clock early every morning when I got up.

That the watch wakes me up so gently with a vibrate feature, and that it also does so in a fashion as to not make me groggy is good enough. What makes the device great is it also tracks your sleep pattern during and night and stores up to 12 hours of sleep data. The watch has internal sensors that look for your “almost awake” moments and keeps track of them. The watch begins tracking your sleep data when you set a “To Bed” time. This is the time you believe you will be asleep. By putting the watch in “To Bed” mode and holding down a button, your “To Bed” time will automatically be set 30 minutes later from the current time.

Every morning, I took the SLEEPTRACKER Pro and connected it to my computer with the provided USB cable. Using the USB cable and provided software, you can actually download your sleep data from the watch and look at all of your “almost awake” moments. Sure enough, it showed the times I knew I was restless during the evening.

The “almost awake” moments are noted within 8 minute intervals. So after noting an “almost awake” moment, the watch will not look for another one for at least 8 minutes. This is a nice feature, considering nature tends to call in the middle of the night and will cause an “almost awake” moment. So, just getting up in the middle of the night for any reason will not skew your sleep data if it is only for a short time.

The SLEEPTRACKER software allows you to collect what it calls “Data A.” This is the average period of time between your “almost awake” moments. So, the more minutes you have showing in “Data A,” the better night of sleep you got. The software helps you to improve your sleep patterns by helping you to note factors that may have affected your ability to sleep that evening. These factors might include napping during the day, eating late, drinking, exercise, and stress–just to name a few. The goal behind collecting your nightly sleep data and your factors is so you can determine what may be causing a bad night of sleep, so you can adjust your lifestyle properly to accommodate.

Overall, I was extremely impressed with the SLEEPTRACKER Pro. It really does what it is marketed for. Now, the company also says the SLEEPTRACKER Pro can be worn like a watch, but I find it a little large to wear as an everyday watch. Then again, I don’t normally wear watches, so I admit my opinion on wearing it during the day may be biased.

The SLEEPTRACKER Pro retails for US$179 and can be purchased from the SLEEPTRACKER website. Shipping is free, and the company can also send it gift-wrapped for Christmas for an extra $4.99. Now, if uploading your sleep data to a computer is not important, then the SLEEPTRACKER Standard is offered for only $149, but it only includes a ringing alarm, your adjustable alarm window is limited to 60 minutes, and sleep data is limited to 8 hours. On the SLEEPTRACKER Standard, you can only view your sleep data on the watch. I’d recommend paying the extra $30 for the vibrating alarm alone.

Reader Comments

Mike

I got one for Christmas – it is very clunky. After less than a week, the USB contacts literally fell out of the watch. So much for that. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and exchange it (though – ripoff alert – they want $10 for that!). Better to return it and buy a new one without paying $10.
Another big drawback: no snooze button. So, if your alarm goes off and you fall back asleep, the watch doesn’t wake you again. Considering it supposedly knows when you sleep, that seems pretty fundamental.